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Cunard Line
Cunard is a British-American cruise line owned by Carnivale Cruises. It was originally founded by Samuel Cunard in 1839 as the British and North American Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company. Cunard celebrated its 175th birthday in 2015. History The Early Years:1840-1849 In May of 1840, the ship Unicorn made the first journey for the company. She was soon followed by four sisters of the Britannia class which included, Britannia, Acadia, Columbia, and Caledonia. These ships were built of wood and had paddle wheels. In 1843, Columbia was wrecked without loss of life and was soon replaced by the Hibernia and Cambria. In 1849 and 1850, the rest of the original four and the Hibernia were sold. The Cambria remained in Cunard service until 1860. Four more steamers were ordered for a new route to New York instead of the original Halifax-Boston route. British and America and Great Western collapsed, leaving Cunard with very few rivals. New Rivals:1850-1870 By the 1850s, Cunard had become a leader in transatlantic travel, however, there were to be more rivals. The two major German lines, Hamburg-Amerika and North German Lloyd had both recently started competing and two other lines had also been recently introduced which were the Inman and Collins lines. Collins Line took many of Cunard's passengers with their ships which were almost twice the size of Cunard's best, but the Collins' ships were drove hard and after the loss of two ships, the Arctic and the Pacific, the Collins Line collapsed. The Inman Line, however, kept on building new ships. Persia was built in 1854 and took the Blue Riband from Collins Line. Cunard chartered ships during the Crimean War and most of its voyages were suspended. After the war, Cunard put what turned out to be it's last paddle-wheel Blue Riband winner into service, the Scotia of 1862. Cunard soon began to replace it's wooden paddle steamers with iron hulled-screw powered liners beginning with the China. In 1865 Samuel Cunard died and Charles Maclver assumed his position. In 1866, Inman Line started to build newer liners to match Scotia. Cunard responded by putting the Russia and two larger units into service, but a greater opponent awaited Cunard in the new decade. Early Record Breakers:1871-1898 White Star Line, another British ocean liner company, had originally been created in the 1840s, but had recently been bought by Thomas Ismay, father of the famous J. Bruce Ismay who sailed on the Titanic. White Star soon introduced its Oceanic Class which included Oceanic, Atlantic(which was later lost in 1873 and was the worst shipping disaster until Titanic), Baltic, and the Republic. During the 1870s, Cunard was outdone by both Inman and White Star. The Panic of 1873 didn't help with the situation and caused a period of almost five years of shipping depression. Cunard had also lost one of its mail contracts to White Star. In 1879 the company became the Cunard Steamship Company Ltd. A new chairman named John Burns helped Cunard put new steel-hulled liners into service beginning with the Servia of 1881, which was the first passenger liner with electric lighting throughout the entire ship, a huge accomplishment indeed. In the late 1800s, the competition for the Blue Ribband had exploded. Cunard had recently added the Aurania of 1883 to their fleet after almost a year she was due to arrive due to a delay caused by an explosion during her maiden voyage. Cunard was still looking for more tonnage, and gained some when it acquired the Oregon in 1884 after the Oregon's original owners, the Guion Line, were unable to afford her. The Oregon was very fast, and was soon joined by the sisters Umbria and Etruria which were also record breakers. After 1885, the Aurania, Servia, Umbria, and Etruria. In 1886, the Oregon was lost after a collision with an unknown sailing ship. Cunard continued on and soon after, the Atlantic Blue Riband race went crazy and new ships kept taking the award. In the 1886, the Inman Line was bought and soon built the City of Rome and the City of Paris, which forced Cunard and White Star to update.In 1893, Cunard put the Campania and Lucania into service. Like the Umbria and Etruria, they were very fast and held the Blue Riband until the Kaiser Wilhelm Der Grosse took the record in 1897. = Turn of the Century:1899-1913 Although Cunard had lost the Blue Riband to the Germans, they were still as strong as ever. They proved this when they built the sisters Saxonia and Ivernia. At the time, they had the tallest funnels on the Atlantic. Cunard soon started planning a pair of ships that would each include four funnels, but Cunard was struggling with a decision, should they use the new steam turbines, or should they use the traditional quadruple expansion engines. Cunard solved the issue by building two similar ocean liners, the Carmania and the Caronia, both built in 1905. The Carmania was given steam turbines, while the Caronia was given quadruple expansion engines. The Carmania was proven to be faster, so the two new superliners were given steam turbines. They were soon named the Lusitania and Mauretania. Cunard had completed them both by 1907 and they soon became speed champions. The Mauretania eventually proved the fastest and held the Blue Ribband from 1909 until 1929, a shocking twenty years. The Mauretania and the Lusitania operated the transatlantic service alone until 1913 when the Aquitania entered service. She had been ordered after the Lucania had burnt out at Liverpool to help the two other superliners operate the transatlantic service. Cunard had just placed the Franconia and the Laconia in service a few years earlier and was doing very well, however, 1914 would not go as planned. In August of that year, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated. World War one had begun. World War One: 1914-1918 Before the war, Cunard had been putting new liners in service such as the Aquitania, the Ausonia, the Albania, and many more, however, by the end of the war, many of these new ships would be gone. The most famous World War One loss of Cunard is the Lusitania, which was sunk in May of 1915 off the coast of Ireland and took almost 1,200 souls with her to her watery grave. Almost 100 were Americans. This event is said to have brought the United States into the war. Many losses followed including the Franconia, the Laconia, and even the famous Carpathia. Cunard also lost many liners from their subsidaries such as the Anchor Line. Rebuilding: 1919-1933 After World War One, many ocean liners had been lost and Cunard had lost one of its three huge liners and they needed a quick replacement. They soon found one, a three funneled liner called the Imperator. It had originally been owned by HAPAG before the war, but had been handed over to Britain as a war replacement. She had been bought in a deal along with her ex-sister, the Bismark by Cunard and White Star. The Bismark was given to the White Star Line and became the Majestic, while the Imperator was given to Cunard and became the Berengaria. Little did anyone know, both of the sisters would become fleet mates again in almost fifteen years. By the time Cunard had bought the Imperator, the pre-war competition was gone. The Titanic had sunk in 1912. The Lusitania and Britannic were war losses. All three of the HAPAG superliners had been handed over. This left the White Star Line with the Majestic, the Olympic, and the Homeric, another ex-german liner that had been owned by North German Lloyd. The Cunard had the Mauretania, the Aquitania, and the Berengaria.